technate

The Nature of the Human BeingAs a technocrat, one must realise that a human being is a life-form with physical needs which need to be satisfied for it to be able to raise itself. It is acting within a physical world and is talented with an unmatched capacity for abstract thinking, allowing it to interact and form holonic structures (yes, most basic human interaction is holonic by nature), as well as hierarchical units to serve its interests. That is already explored in chapter 23 of the TSC, known as the “Human Animal”.

The chapter generally takes a mechanistic viewpoint of human behavior, remniscent of behaviorism, but that is to be seen as a product of the particular level of science during that time.

We, humans, are of course basically still animals, but have taken the first steps towards evolutionary stages where we would be able to control, understand and develop our mental capacities. This development doesn’t of course negate neither our more primitive instincts or the need to establish a sustainable society.

Image by Alex Grey – http://surrealartforum.com/images/metamorphosis/alex-grey.jpgIt is evidently clear that we should develop our capacity to its fullest extent, but for it to be developed, it cannot be stomped out of the ground by cybernetic implants or control – no matter how benevolent – from above. Without the freedom to develop its full potential, the human being will become stiffled and unable to fulfil its creative needs.

It is of course still unclear exactly how complex the human psyche is, but it is clear that it is fragile, easy to manipulate and even possible to break. Still today, in modern Europe with all its prosperity, many human beings feel detached from life itself and alienated by the unnecessary demands from society administrated through a price system which demands all responsibility from its agents while virtually refusing to honor anything in return. Newly certified doctors and scientists often end up at MacDonald’s, where their talents are wasted, while the medic sector is terribly understaffed. It is a society with physical abundance, where mountains of waste are rising while ethnically and regionally based groups clash over lumps and stones.

What has that to do with human nature?

Of course, if we look at human nature as what the human is today, then it has everything to do with it. The price system has been raised because of generations of human interaction, and has led to unprecedented growth in technology, consumption and capital. This growth will inevitably lead to a downfall. “Human nature” must mean everything that is scientifically predestined to be “human”, including primitive as well as less primitive aspects of the human bodily functions and the human mind.

One could claim that the need for accumulation is a part of “human nature”, but – if we dissect that aspect from the metaphysical assertions of idealists and instead merge it with our understanding of how other advanced species of mammals function and work – we will quickly reject that argument and instead realise that human nature is a result of millions of years of evolution.

* I doubt anyone here is willing to conclude that violence between human beings is an acceptable conduct in a civilised society. Yet, we generally have police forces. Every day, society fights to correct some unwanted actions deriving from human nature. If we would simply state that technocracy is unable to exist due to a possible contradiction with human nature, we would also render all education, all criminal correction facilities and all programmes to stop crime as “impossible”.

Even though technocracy in itself might be an infringement upon one aspect of human behavior, supposedly the observed tendency to accumulate, it is nothing resembling a direct, physical violation of human rights.

The Human Being Over Technocracy

The technate is of course a government, since it by its nature governs. But it is different from all other governments in one vital characteristic – it is not established to govern over people. The subjects under technocracy are not human beings, but the continental infrastructure, and under it, the resources of the area in question.

Image by txd – http://flickr.com/photos/txd/9127336/ Technate is a service, under control of human being. It does not own its production capacity, but administrates the production capacity which is divided into shares owned and used by the human beings living in the same area as the technate. The only thing which the technate needs in order to be operated is technical maintenance from the users, during a specific minimum of time.

The role of the human being in the technate would not be that of a wealthy landlord, a libertarian entrepreneur or a proud proletarian, but that of an enlightened creator, with full access to a share of production capacity exceeding his/her own individual ability to create. By this autonomy, he/she is given the right to define the meaning with his/her own life.The technate could not impose any laws, taxes or bills.

Any legislative or democratic bodies would lie outside of the operative framework of the technate, and the latter will not be able to influence such agreements. The only foundation of the technate, is that no individual may infringe on any other’s right to his/her share of usership of the continental production capacity.

Therefore, technocracy essentially does not need to motivate why the human being deserves to live in such a society, since it exists as a service initiated by human beings, rather than as an autocratic system aimed at transforming human social relations from above.